“I cal'late you don't want to hear 'em. If you don't understand now, then I can't make it much plainer, I'm afraid.”
The little lady sprang to her feet.
“Oh, you are provoking!” she cried indignantly. “Can't you see that I want to hear the reasons from you yourself? Cap'n Whittaker, I shook hands with you last night.”
“You remember I told you you'd better wait.”
“I didn't want to wait. I believed I knew something of human nature, and I believed I had learned to understand you. I made up my mind to pay no more attention to what people said against you. I thought they were envious and disliked you because you did things in your own way. I wouldn't believe the stories I heard this afternoon. I wanted to hear you speak in your own defense and you refuse to do it. Don't you know what people are saying? They say you are trying to keep Emily because—Oh, I'm ashamed to ask it, but you make me: HAS the child got valuable property of her own?”
Captain Cy had been, throughout this scene, standing quietly by the table. Now he took a step forward.
“Miss Dawes,” he said sharply, “sit down.”
“But I—”
“Sit down, please.”
The schoolmistress didn't mean to obey the order, but for some reason she did. The captain went on speaking.